Seniors Housing & Healthcare Trends

LOS ANGELES: A design aimed at building community and mixing generations is central to a proposed affordable housing development in Wānaka, and a resource consent application now lodged reveals the full plans.

Community housing provider Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust (QLCHT) plans to redevelop two adjoining sites at 43 McDougall St to deliver 12 affordable homes: ten one-bedroom homes, primarily for senior citizens, and two three-bedroom units for families.

QLCHT chief executive Julie Scott said the mix is deliberate, reflecting a broader approach to community-focused housing.

“We decided to include two family rentals amongst the seniors to help create a more balanced and resilient community within the development,” she said, adding mixed-tenure projects were known to support neighbourhood interaction and improve safety and wellbeing.

“It also ensures the development reflects real community needs rather than serving just one group in isolation.”

Consent documents show the homes arranged in terraced blocks around a shared central green space, alongside a communal laundry intended to encourage everyday interaction between residents.

“Features like a shared laundry and outdoor spaces naturally bring people together in everyday interactions,” Julie said.

“In turn, the regular social contact reduces isolation, supports neighbourly relationships, and helps people feel safer and more connected.”

She said shared facilities also helped keep the homes efficient and accessible, with high-quality communal spaces while individual units remained simple and easy to live in.

The project follows the transfer of five senior housing units in Upton Street from Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) to the trust. Combined with an adjoining lot already owned by QLCHT, the land made the 12-unit development feasible.

Demand for affordable housing remains high, with QLCHT reporting 1,578 households on its waitlist across the district, including 302 in the Upper Clutha. Of local applicants, 18 are over 65 and 27 are over 60.

Construction is expected to begin later this year, subject to approvals.

Most seniors living in the existing cottages will move into new homes within the development, with remaining vacancies filled closer to completion.

“Assuming all goes to plan here, we should have homes ready for occupancy in 2027,” Julie said.

There is “no shortage of demand” for the homes, she said.

QLCHT also has construction of three new homes underway at Pembroke Heights, is awaiting resource consent for three more at Alpine Meadows, and is about to begin building another 10 in Lake Hāwea’s Longview subdivision.